Tottenham Hotspur went top of the Premier League as they edged past Luton Town 1-0 despite playing the second half with 10 men.
It was a moment of brilliance from James Maddison that decided the match, the midfielder skilfully beating his man down the byline to cross for Micky van de Ven to sidefoot in his first goal for the club since joining in the summer from Wolfsburg. It means Spurs top the table after eight matches for the first time since 15 December 2020.
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Spurs had dominated the opening half and had three gilt-edged chances in the opening 10 minutes, but Richarlison (twice) and Pedro Porro failed to score. Then Thomas Kaminski brilliantly tipped round a post a Dejan Kulusevski shot that was destined for the far corner.
Spurs’ frustration grew as they were needlessly reduced to 10 men when Yves Bissouma, booked for a foul 10 minutes earlier in the match, received a second yellow card for a dive on the stroke of half-time.
Elijah Adebayo missed a glorious opportunity to put Luton ahead two minutes after half-time, but, similar to Richarlison’s first chance, the forward could not steer the ball in from three yards out.
That miss proved costly as Spurs went ahead five minutes later from Van de Ven, who became Spurs’ 167th different Premier League goalscorer, taking the club ahead of Newcastle United and West Ham United for the highest number of different scorers in the competition.
Luton continued to create chances, with Jacob Brown sending a free header over from a cross by Alfie Doughty, who then narrowly shot over.
Spurs have 20 points from their eight matches, their best start to a season since 1960/61, when they won the Double.
Luton remain 17th with four points.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Man City
MCI
|
38 | +62 | 91 |
| 2 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
38 | +62 | 89 |
| 3 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
38 | +45 | 82 |
| 4 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
38 | +15 | 68 |
What the managers said
Rob Edwards (Luton): "They started strongly, we rode our luck for the first 10 minutes or so, then we found our way into the game. I think we then started to look a threat, out of possession we were solid and did really well.
"The sending-off before half-time changed the game a little bit. We made a slight tweak, we felt we could put a three against their two in the middle, be man for man everywhere else, and then make that overload count.
"We had a big, big chance to score and didn't take it. If you switch off for one moment, don't defend the corner well enough and go one nil down. Then even against ten men, they have so much quality, we can pressure these players but they were able to see the game out."
Ange Postecoglou (Spurs): "A lot of character and resilience, which the team has showed a lot in the previous games before today. We started really well, should have been three or four up, but then you get the red card and it is a different type of game.
"I thought we held it together really well. They had some opportunities, we had a few of our own. In the end we get three points at a difficult place to go."
"The players want to change the destiny of this football club and that is what they are trying to do on the pitch.
"Yeah it's going alright, but we're in October and still have a lot of work to do."